Marijuana is a topic at the forefront of public discussion in our society today. Today, support for its legalization is at an all-time high. As society has become more lenient of marijuana, we have begun to know more and more about it. Currently, marijuana is classified as a schedule one drug, which places it alongside drugs such as methamphetamine and cocaine. I believe medical marijuana should be nationally legalized or rescheduled. Marijuana has a light impact, produces plenty of benefits to reap, and may even be a solution to the opioid epidemic currently plaguing America. Despite the rampant education regarding the dangers of marijuana to the community, the legalization of the drug has proven to have little impact negatively or positively.
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Researchers have found marijuana has plenty of medical potentials and uses to help people with a plethora of issues, helping with anything from insomnia to chronic pain. One of marijuana’s most notable traits is its pain-relieving properties, and most research agrees that it is effective at it also. This is exemplified in a survey completed by Terry Hacienda, a writer for The Fresh Toast. Terry analyzes a survey completed by Hello MD, and suggests that “81% of pain patients prefer marijuana to opiates.” This shows that people find the relief from marijuana to be relatively or nearly equitable to the relief from their opioid counterparts, presumably if they are able to swap them out. Another correlating article is published in the Hawai'i Journal of Medicine & Public Health, titled "Therapeutic Benefits of Cannabis: A Patient Survey” and has plenty in common. The authors, Charles and Sandra Webb, complete a patient survey and conclude “Average pre-treatment pain on a zero to ten scale was 7.8, whereas average post-treatment pain was 2.8, giving a reported average improvement of 5 points. This translates to a 64% average relative decrease in pain” (109). However, I believe the most moving part of this survey was the actual feedback from the participants in the survey, who were quoted saying, “Medical cannabis replaced my need for oxycodone,” …show more content…
Douglas Main is the author of an article drawn from Newsweek titled “In States with Medical Marijuana, Painkiller Deaths Drop by 25%.” In his article, he asserts that “in the 13 states that passed laws allowing for the use of medical marijuana between 1999 and 2010, 25 percent fewer people die from opioid overdoses annually.” He follows this up with a grim statistic report, stating “Overdose deaths from these pharmaceutical opioids have approximately tripled since 1991, and every day 46 people die of such overdoses in the United States.” With opiate consumption rates climbing ever higher, it has become critical that we look more into researching marijuana’s potential to rid America of this problem, as our solutions dwindle ever further down.
To conclude, medical marijuana should be nationally legalized. It does not harm local communities, it can be great medicine to those who need it, resolving both chronic and acute pains, and works with previously-prescribed medications, alone, and can even help you get off the prescribed medication. It also shows major promise in the battle against America’s opioid crisis and is waiting on the sideline to get in and help win the game, but until we legalize it medically, it will just stay on the
Researchers have found marijuana has plenty of medical potentials and uses to help people with a plethora of issues, helping with anything from insomnia to chronic pain. One of marijuana’s most notable traits is its pain-relieving properties, and most research agrees that it is effective at it also. This is exemplified in a survey completed by Terry Hacienda, a writer for The Fresh Toast. Terry analyzes a survey completed by Hello MD, and suggests that “81% of pain patients prefer marijuana to opiates.” This shows that people find the relief from marijuana to be relatively or nearly equitable to the relief from their opioid counterparts, presumably if they are able to swap them out. Another correlating article is published in the Hawai'i Journal of Medicine & Public Health, titled "Therapeutic Benefits of Cannabis: A Patient Survey” and has plenty in common. The authors, Charles and Sandra Webb, complete a patient survey and conclude “Average pre-treatment pain on a zero to ten scale was 7.8, whereas average post-treatment pain was 2.8, giving a reported average improvement of 5 points. This translates to a 64% average relative decrease in pain” (109). However, I believe the most moving part of this survey was the actual feedback from the participants in the survey, who were quoted saying, “Medical cannabis replaced my need for oxycodone,” …show more content…
Douglas Main is the author of an article drawn from Newsweek titled “In States with Medical Marijuana, Painkiller Deaths Drop by 25%.” In his article, he asserts that “in the 13 states that passed laws allowing for the use of medical marijuana between 1999 and 2010, 25 percent fewer people die from opioid overdoses annually.” He follows this up with a grim statistic report, stating “Overdose deaths from these pharmaceutical opioids have approximately tripled since 1991, and every day 46 people die of such overdoses in the United States.” With opiate consumption rates climbing ever higher, it has become critical that we look more into researching marijuana’s potential to rid America of this problem, as our solutions dwindle ever further down.
To conclude, medical marijuana should be nationally legalized. It does not harm local communities, it can be great medicine to those who need it, resolving both chronic and acute pains, and works with previously-prescribed medications, alone, and can even help you get off the prescribed medication. It also shows major promise in the battle against America’s opioid crisis and is waiting on the sideline to get in and help win the game, but until we legalize it medically, it will just stay on the